To the Bhutanese, Singapore could well be Shangri-La: Khaw Boon Wan

TODAY, Esther Ng, 20 Oct, 2011

Happiness and Bhutan have been brought up in Parliament several times since Monday, and Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan yesterday weighed in on the debate.

His visit to Bhutan a few years ago left him with "deep impressions". A tiny nation straddled between India and China, it was not unlike Singapore.

"The challenges of a tiny nation are real and huge. We are not a continental economy like the United States or China. We live in a troubled and troubling region," said Mr Khaw. "Against all odds, we have done well in the last 50 years when we had so little."



On Monday, Workers' Party MP Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) had cited Bhutan and its Gross National Happiness indicator when she questioned if the Government was too focused on gross domestic product growth, at the expense of Singaporeans' happiness.

Yesterday, Mr Khaw said Bhutan was no "Shangri-La". When he was there, he saw "unhappy people", toiling in the fields, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products.

The Bhutanese have studied Singapore because it has "successfully transited" from Third World to First, and managed to create a harmonious society.

"In their mind, Singapore could well be the Shangri-La and they want Bhutan to emulate Singapore," he said.

Singapore's public policies are founded on hard work, prudence and meritocracy, and while they are "not perfect", they are "not bad" either.

"It is now incumbent on all of us, to do our best to make the lives of our people better, not through empty rhetoric, sound bites or mindless giveaways," he said.